Florence Tanniou
Although the first medieval versions of the Trojan War, whether written in Latin or in the vernacular, do not resort to Homer's Iliad, they nevertheless mention the ancient poet's name. A profile of him is already taking shape: questioned for not being an eyewitness, or for his narrative's supernatural aspects, yet admired, his authority is called upon to discriminate between rival paradigms of writing and to assert the path of medieval authors' own poetics. New representations emerged when his work became better known at the end of the Middle Ages, supporting new poetic choices and linked, for example, to re-mythologization. The treatment of the ancient aedic poet thus reveals literary positioning and poetic changes throughout the Middle Ages: as a literary ghost, Homer attests to the abundance of poetic resources within Trojan matter.